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Is Chess Haram?

Scholars differ on chess. The Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali schools forbid or strongly dislike it, while Shafi'is call it makruh. Betting on it is haram.

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Short answer

Scholars differ on chess. The majority view, held by the Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali schools, is that it is haram or prohibitively disliked even without money, while the Shafi'i school, as stated by Imam al-Nawawi, holds it is makruh (disliked, not sinful). Scholars such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi permit it with conditions. All agree chess is haram if it involves betting or makes you miss prayer.

Chess is having a moment. Millions of people play online every day, and many Muslims grew up playing it with a parent or a friend. So it can be a surprise to hear that some scholars call it haram, and that Saudi Arabia's grand mufti said so on television.

The honest answer is that this is one of the classic disagreements in Islamic law. Here is what each position says, the evidence behind it, and the conditions every side agrees on.

Is chess haram in Islam?

There is no single answer: classical scholars disagree, but they all agree chess is haram if it involves gambling or makes you neglect prayer. Islam Q&A (answer 14095) quotes Ibn Taymiyyah that when chess distracts from "an obligatory duty such as prayer," or involves lying, cheating or other forbidden things, "it is haram according to the consensus of the scholars."

When none of that is involved, the same answer says "there is a difference of scholarly opinion concerning the ruling." The majority, it says, "(Abu Hanifah, Malik, Ahmad and some of the companions of al-Shafi`i) said that it is also haram." Imam al-Nawawi, the leading Shafi'i authority, held that it is makruh, meaning disliked but not sinful.

What are the main scholarly positions on chess?

There are three main positions: haram, makruh (disliked), and permissible with conditions. Here is how they line up:

Position Who holds it Ruling on casual chess with no betting
Haram Maliki and Hanbali scholars, e.g. Ibn Qudamah and Ibn al-Qayyim; Saudi grand mufti Abdulaziz Al ash-Sheikh Forbidden even without money
Prohibitively disliked (makruh tahrimi) Hanafi school, per Askimam (Mufti Ebrahim Desai) Sinful to play; close to haram
Disliked (makruh) Shafi'i school, as stated by Imam al-Nawawi Not sinful, but better avoided
Permissible with conditions Yusuf al-Qaradawi, The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam Allowed if it does not delay prayer, has no gambling and no obscene talk

All four positions agree on one thing: betting on a game of chess is gambling, which is haram.

Why do some scholars say chess is haram?

They compare chess to nard (a dice game like backgammon), which authentic hadith forbid, and argue it distracts from prayer like gambling does. The Prophet ﷺ said: "He who played Nardashir (a game similar to backgammon) is like one who dyed his hand with the flesh and blood of swine" (Sahih Muslim 2260). He also said: "He who plays backgammon disobeys Allah and His Apostle" (Sunan Abi Dawud 4938, graded hasan by al-Albani).

These hadith are about nard, not chess. Scholars who forbid chess reason by analogy. Ibn Qudamah wrote that "chess is like dice in that it is forbidden," and Ibn al-Qayyim argued that its harms are greater. They also cite the Qur'an's reason for banning gambling: Satan wants "to avert you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer" (Qur'an 5:91). Islam Q&A reports that 'Ali ibn Abi Talib passed people playing chess and said, "What are these images, to which you are devoted?", echoing Ibrahim's words to his people in Qur'an 21:52.

Why do other scholars say chess is allowed?

Because no authentic text names chess, and the default ruling for things is permissibility. Yusuf al-Qaradawi writes in The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam that "chess did not appear until after the death of the Prophet," so hadith that name it "must have been fabricated." He notes that some Companions and Successors allowed it, naming Ibn 'Abbas, Abu Hurayrah, Ibn Sirin and Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib. Ibn al-Qayyim, on the other side, called the reports that any Companion played it "a fabrication," so this point is itself disputed.

Al-Qaradawi also distinguishes chess from dice: backgammon "is a game of chance," while "chess is a game of skill and strategy, which may be compared to archery." He allows it only on three conditions:

  1. You do not get so absorbed that you delay prayer.
  2. No gambling is involved.
  3. Players do not use obscene or vulgar language.

"If any of these conditions are not met it should be considered as haram," he writes.

What do the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools say?

The Hanafi school holds chess to be prohibitively disliked (makruh tahrimi), and the Shafi'i school holds it to be disliked (makruh). An Askimam answer approved by Mufti Ebrahim Desai says that if gambling is involved chess is "categorically prohibited," the same applies if it makes you "negligent of his Salah," and otherwise "it will be prohibitively disliked (makruh tahrimi)." In Hanafi usage, makruh tahrimi is close to haram and sinful to do.

For the Shafi'i school, an answer by Ustadh Mostafa Azzam cites Imam al-Nawawi's Minhaj al-Talibin: chess is makruh, "meaning that you are not punished for doing it and you are rewarded for avoiding it." According to al-Dhahabi, quoted by Islam Q&A, al-Nawawi added that it becomes haram if it makes you miss praying on time or is played for money.

What did the Saudi grand mufti say about chess?

Saudi Arabia's grand mufti, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al ash-Sheikh, said chess is forbidden, in a television fatwa reported in January 2016. According to The Guardian, he said chess was "included under gambling" and "a waste of time and money and a cause for hatred and enmity between players," citing the Qur'an's ban on gambling. The Guardian added that, because it answered a viewer's question, the ruling "was probably meant as an advisory opinion rather than a formal edict." It also reported that Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini lifted a ban on chess in 1988, saying it was permissible as long as it was not a means of gambling.

Is it haram to play chess for money or in paid tournaments?

Playing chess for a stake is haram according to every position, because it is gambling. Allah says intoxicants and gambling "are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful" (Qur'an 5:90). Skill does not change this; the same reasoning applies to paid fantasy leagues, as our guide on whether fantasy football is haram explains.

How can you play chess without it affecting your prayers?

If you follow the scholars who permit or merely dislike chess, keep it in its place: after prayer, never instead of it. A few habits help:

  1. Check the next prayer time before you start a game. Long or classical games eat time fast.
  2. Pray first, then play. Many prayers fit between games.
  3. Avoid ranked online games near prayer times, since you cannot pause them without losing.
  4. Never play for money, including entry-fee tournaments where the prize comes from players' fees.
  5. Keep your speech clean, and stop if a game leaves you angry with your opponent.

Al-Qaradawi called chess "a stealer of time." To make sure it never steals a prayer, you can log each one in Salah Home, build a streak, and earn Dates to build your own peaceful home. Our guide on whether video games are haram applies the same tests to online games.

Frequently asked questions

Is chess haram in the Hanafi madhab?

Hanafi scholars hold it to be makruh tahrimi (prohibitively disliked), which is close to haram. The Askimam fatwa approved by Mufti Ebrahim Desai says it is fully haram if it involves gambling or makes you neglect salah.

Is online chess haram?

The ruling is the same as for chess on a board. The scholars who forbid chess forbid it online too, and those who allow it apply the same conditions: no betting, no missed prayers and no foul language.

Did the Prophet ﷺ forbid chess?

No authentic hadith names chess. Sahih Muslim 2260 and Sunan Abi Dawud 4938 forbid nard, a dice game like backgammon, and scholars who forbid chess reason by analogy from it.

Is chess makruh or haram?

It depends on the school. The Shafi'i school, as stated by al-Nawawi, says makruh; the Hanafi school says makruh tahrimi; many Maliki and Hanbali scholars say haram. All say it is haram with betting or if it makes you miss prayer.

Is it haram to teach my child chess?

Scholars who permit chess would allow it under the same conditions, and those who forbid it would not. Whichever view you follow, never let a game delay a child's prayer or involve betting.

Sources

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